GolfPlus- Dec19 Digital Edition (Dec 19) | Page 67

A ‘VEER’ EFFORT EARNS AHLAWAT HIS MAIDEN WIN
YOUNGSTER COMES THROUGH IN A HUMDINGER AFTER SEEING OFF MUKESH KUMAR’S CHALLENGE
Veer Ahlawat, the 2017 runner-up, trailed
54-year-old Mukesh Kumar by two shots
after he conceded a double-bogey on the 14th.
But the long-hitting Veer kept his nerve and
came back into the contest with a 17-feet eagle
conversion on the 15th and a brilliant chip-in
for par on the 17th. Mukesh, a former Asian
Tour winner, stumbled with two bogeys at the
end even as the six-foot four-inch tall Ahlawat
sealed the title with a calm ¿ nish on the 18th.
Veer, who proved his mettle by neutralizing
the threat from Mukesh’s ¿ nal day charge,
Veer Ahlawat receives the winning cheque from Mr. Sandeep S John, Executive Director IOCL (AOD) Digboi Refinery
urugram’s Veer Ahlawat
lived up to his ¿ rst name
‘Veer’ which means ‘Brave’
in Hindi, as he put up a brave
display in the ¿ nal round of
the IndianOil Servo Masters
Golf 2019 to earn his maiden title. that lifted him from seventh to third in the
TATA Steel PGTI Order of Merit. The man
from the DLF Golf & Country Club also
picked up ¿ ve valuable Of¿ cial World Golf
Ranking (OWGR) points that pushed him
up 417 spots, from 1094 to 677, in the world
ranking.
The 23-year-old Ahlawat (69-64-68-72), the
overnight leader by three shots, struck an
eventful even-par-72 on the last day to come
through in a humdinger of a contest by one
shot at 15-under-273 after seeing off a tough
challenge from veteran Mukesh Kumar of
Mhow at the Rs. 60 lakh event played at the
Digboi Golf Links. Mukesh Kumar (74-67-65-68) and Bengaluru’s
M Dharma (67-67-70-70) ¿ nished tied second
at 14-under-274. Mukesh’s dramatic last
round 68 brought him within snif¿ ng distance
of a record seventh title at Digboi.
said, “It’s a big relief to ¿ nally get a title under
my belt as I had come close to winning on a
few occasions in the past. My driving distance
was a big positive during the tournament.
“I’m looking at making a huge improvement
on my previous best ¿ nish on the PGTI
Rankings which was 11th in 2018,” added the
lanky Ahlawat, the son of an Army of¿ cer.
Veer, in his fourth season as a professional,
thus ended a long wait for his breakthrough
win. Ahlawat, fresh from his career-best Asian
Tour ¿ nish of tied eighth at the Panasonic
Open India the previous week, also continued
his hot streak as a result of his sensational
triumph.
Veer collected a prize purse of Rs. 9,69,900
M Dharma - Joint Runner-up
Mukesh Kumar - Joint Runner-up
GolfPlus
DECEMBER
2019
71